N.Z. Battalion In Malaya Doing Jungle Training

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29070, 5 December 1959, Page 14

N.Z. Battalion In Malaya Doing Jungle Training

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, December 4.

Only a week after its arrival in Malaya, the 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Regiment, is now preparing for its operational role with the 28th Commonwealth Brigade. The battalion is training at Taiping, and not at the Far East Land Forces jungle warfare training centre at Koto Tinga, Johore. Jungle craft forms an important part of the programme. The men are learning how to live and maintain themselves in the dense forests of Northern Perak where they will later go on patrol. Part of the training consists in preparing and eating food from the jungle. Monkey stew, wild fowl, fish, and the meat of with vegetables, is the menu for a special “jungle lunch” on the course. At the same time training in the recognition of terrorists in ambush techniques, and jungle navi-

gation is being carried out. Before the unit goes out on operations it will all have undergone a familiarisation course with its weapons, practice night fighting, tests for accuracy and quickness in firing, and drills for immediate action with terrorists. The commanding officer (Lieu-tenant-Colonel D. J. Aitken) said today: “The training programme is an exacting one, and both officers and men are responding to it with great enthusiasm. They will begin operations with a thorough appreciation of what is expected of them and of *the type of country in which they will be operating.”